Bettencourt sells islands – makes $42 million profit

She’s 89 and suffering from dementia, but that hasn’t stopped Liliane Bettencourt, France’s richest woman and heir of cosmetics family business L’Oreal, from raking in big by selling her islands for a cool $42 million (€34.15 million) profit.

She’s 89 and suffering from dementia, but that hasn’t stopped Liliane Bettencourt, France’s richest woman and heir of cosmetics family business L’Oreal, from raking in big by selling her islands for a cool $42 million (€34.15 million) profit.

Having bought D’Arros Island and a few neighbouring islets in the Seychelles back in 1998 for $18 million, the octogenarian has now sold them for $60 million to a firm registered in the island country.

But a large portion of the $42 million profit looks set to be eaten up by tax. She will reportedly shell out $8 million to the Seychelles government in tax that should have been paid when she first bought the islands.

On top of that, Bettencourt – who along with her family owns 30.9% of L’Oreal – has also agreed to pay around $10 million as tax on the sale. The Seychelles government is to declare the islands as a “nature reserve”, which would be managed by the Save Our Seas Foundation.

Bettencourt may be on a tax-paying spree, but it is unlikely to dent much of her total fortune – after all, she is estimated to be worth $24 billion, according to Forbes.

Comments

What a story this is. She invested $18 million and comes out with more than 3 times her initial invesment. Just shows that high end assets - whether its properties or islands in this case - seem to be immune to the global economy and continue to move in one direction!